Tofu Eggless Egg Salad

Tofu Eggless “Egg” Salad is one of our favorite vegan food transformations. Made with firm tofu and vegan mayonnaise instead of hard-boiled eggs and eggy mayo, this a treat on fresh bread or stuffed into pita. You can also dollop it onto a green salad for extra protein. Photos by Evan Atlas.

Slice the tofu into 6 slabs crosswise and blot well on paper towels or clean tea towels (or use a handy tofu pressing device). Place it in a mixing bowl, and mash well with a large fork or potato masher. Or, just crumble with clean hands.

Add the diced celery and scallion to the tofu

In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, mustard, curry powder, and optional nutritional yeast and mix well. Pour the mayonnaise mixture over the tofu mixture, and stir well to combine.

Add more vegan mayonnaise if you'd like a creamier consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and add more curry, if you'd like. Serve as suggested, below.

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Note: If you can find it, use Indian black salt (kala namak, which is actually pink) in place of regular salt. It adds a distinctive, egg-like flavor and aroma.

Serving suggestions:

This is delicious served in warmed pita breads with sprouts or shredded lettuce.

Serve on fresh bread with tender lettuce leaves like Boston or Bibb, or baby spinach or baby arugula, accompanied by dill pickle spears.

Or, omit bread altogether and serve in individual lettuce leaves (once again, Boston or Bibb are best for this), or just dolloped onto any kind of green salad.

26 Comments

Ian

January 10, 2013 at 2:45 pm

This was delicious! Last night I was hemming and hawing as to what I wanted for lunch tomorrow. I knew it had to be something quick and easy. This fir the bill.
I never really liked egg-salad when I wasn’t vegan. This, however, was just amazing. Even if you never liked it, you’ll probably like this. If you don’t like tofu, you’ll probably like this as well. It tastes nothing like tofu.
I most certainly wouldn’t eat this all the time though. It’s something good to eat once in a blue moon, perhaps once or twice a month or every few months.

Jennifer

June 25, 2014 at 7:57 pm

Made my 2nd batch of this today & added cornichons from Trader Joe’s for a pickle taste. (I added capers to my 1st batch). I didn’t have a lot of celery left so I added celery seed, very finely chopped red pepper for more crunch & extra scallions. Soooo good! I’m in love with this recipe thank you!!!!

Guy

August 15, 2014 at 10:37 am

My eggless salad is similar to the recipe here but calls for no curry, nutritional yeast or mustard. I substitute Kala Namak (did I spell it right?) salt for regular salt. It gives it the “egg” flavor. Sweet relish (1 tbsp) is also a good option if you like it a little sweet. Try it!

Kris Talbot

November 9, 2014 at 12:41 pm

I’m new to using tofu but don’t I need to cook it first? Is it really alright to just marinate it and then use it without frying/steaming it etc? Or are you using a certain type of tofu? Many thanks for any guidance.

Kris, tofu can be marinated and cooked, as in certain hot recipes, but doesn’t need to be. This recipe uses firm tofu; simply blot or press out excess water and use as directed in this recipe. Here’s VegKitchen’s wide array of tofu recipes, using the various types of tofu: http://www.vegkitchen.com/tips/versatile-tofu/

Mary Higgins

I used a block of Dry Tofu (which is not Dried Tofu) and mixed some curry powder and some fresh dill and ate with fresh tomato and avocado on fluffy white bread – and ate the whole lot which unfortunately was a whole lot!!! Agree the Black Salt is the key!

Susan Jenkins

October 16, 2016 at 4:15 pm

This was really good!! We vegans miss our egg salad! I used Wildwood sprouted tofu, which doesn’t really require draining, so mine was a bit dry. I ended up adding extra Vegenaise and Grey Poupon to get the right moisture. The nutritional yeast flakes and Indian Black Kala Namak salt give it just the right unami and eggy sulphurous-ness (alas, that’s not a word, but you know what I mean). It was delicious, thanks for posting such a great recipe!!

Hi Susan, I’m glad you enjoyed this. I also tried using Wildwood once and found it dry even though I combined it with silken tofu as well (thinking I’d kind of replicate the yolk/white textures). But I stick with regular extra-firm or firm tofu most of the time. And I do know what you mean about the sulphurous-ness. I do miss it when I’m out of it!

Elisha

December 7, 2016 at 10:54 pm

This was so delicious! I used the recommended nooch and kala namak, and added a touch more curry powder until it smelled exactly like my mum’s egg sandwiches from childhood 🙂 Then I made a toasted sandwich with baby cos lettuce. Do you have an Instagram hashtag for people who make your recipes?

Luke

February 13, 2017 at 9:06 pm

Impressively easy and tasty, for those of you in the PNW this is just like Toby’s dip and I’d highly recommend it! Plenty of leeway to adjust mustard, spiciness, etc. making it at home. Thank you for this!